3.5 to PF

[Sir_Mopalot]

So if I were to convert a published 3.5 adventure to PF, what exactly would I have to do? They seem so similar, could I run them unchanged?

[Dr Bwaa]

Short answer: probably yes. You just need to make sure to tweak any changed abilities of any NPCs with class levels, and make sure to read the PF source instead of 3.5 for spell & feat descriptions; there are small but significant changes to common spells. Example: go read the difference between the 3.5 (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/darkness.htm) and PF (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/d/darkness) versions of Darkness.

[mikau013]

You'd have to possibly change, spells, hit points, attributes, calculate cmb and cmd, redo the treasure since pathfinder's wbl is different and they changed how some magic items function.
Grant some extra gear to npcs as well because of this.
You'd have to change some feats, grant some monsters new feats. Recalculate reach, sneak attack, crit immunities and other monster type changes. If monsters wear armour change that as well, same for any class features they might posses. Natural attacks are nothing alike so those have to be changed as well.
Skill points changed in multiple ways (less of them, they do different things (mostly nerfed)), int change gives bonus to all levels now no matter when it is gained, and no longer triple skill points at first level.

After you've done all that, look at anything else you might have forgotten / didn't know pathfinder changed.

[Sir_Mopalot]

I appreciate the responses quite a bit, I guess my new question is why the hugely different response. :smallamused:

[mikau013]

Because I was rambling on a bit :smallredface:

But it depends on how many of the pathfinder changes you'd want to implement. For example one of my dms was fine with it that his monsters kept the 3.5 spiked chains instead of the pf ones. This might irk your players or might not (I don't know your players).

I'd say the bare minimum you'd have to do is: look at some of the spell changes, calculate cmb/cmd, change natural attacks and be prepared that you might have some issues during play because you didn't update everything. So be prepared to improvise / handwave a bit.

- Edit: And look a bit at what your players might encounter / do
For example if one of your players is a rogue, read up a bit about the sneak attack nerfs and adjust your monsters accordingly.

[Jeraa]

I appreciate the responses quite a bit, I guess my new question is why the hugely different response. :smallamused:

The responses were basically the same. Mikau013 just got more specific.

Pathfinder changed (among other things): Combat maneuvers, skills, feats, spells, class abilities, some class hitpoints, and the experience system.

While a good portion of the rules stayed the same, Pathfinder changed a lot as well. Some conversion would be needed.

[Person_Man]

I agree with the above. But as DM, if you have a solid understanding of the Pathfinder rules you don't need to go rewrite Feats, Skills, hit points, etc., unless you want to. Just leave them as they are, and rule on how to deal with it on the fly as the issues come up. When I DM, I don't even bother to calculate of the statistics for an enemy unless I have to (unless I can easily print it out or flip to the correct page in a book), regardless of what system I use. It makes game prep go much faster.